What is this magical place you may ask? Well, its Heroic Aleworks, one of the local breweries found in the Woodbridge, VA area. Click here for location, map and directions. This brewery is quite not a year old, but is attracting a fair number of patrons. They are open 7-days a week and the hours are posted on their website (see below). They are a true ‘brewery’ in the definition of Virginia ABC laws. They only serve beer and some non-alcoholic drinks such as water, soft drinks and a Root Beer from Lost Rhino brewery. They serve no wine or food. They do partner up with some local food trucks that park out front on weekends and you are welcome to bring in your own food or have it delivered.
The interior is unique as far as any bar or brewery I have ever frequented. It’s a comic book!! Well, comic book theme. There are comic character figurines on shelves, comic character drawings all over the walls, the bar front is a montage of comic book covers and even a wall with a few nice paintings that are up for auction. The bathroom doors are even decorated… the men’s door is the Tardis from Dr. Who and the women’s door is decked out with designs and words in elfish language from the world of Tolkien…see the picts in this post and prove to me just how much a geek you are by posting what the design is and origin… bonus geek points if you can translate! There are shelves packed with a variety of board / card games for patrons as well as magazine racks filled with graphic novels and other comic reading material.
The beers are even comic themed. Each beer is a super hero!! When you order a beer, you get a trading card with the beer / character name and when you turn it over you get an origin story of the character, their powers and a description of the beer, ingredients as well as ABV% and IBUs. Ordering the beers is fun… where else can you ask for a “Death Blossom” (Red Rye Ale) or a “Max Nix” (English Porter). While writing this this blog review I am enjoying their newest hero on tap… their “Hailstorm” White IPA.
Ok… so let’s talk BEER! 🍺🍺 At the time of this review 14 beers are on tap and a flight of three 4oz pours will run you $7. They offer a 10oz pour with prices that average $5.50. The 16oz pour average is $6. Two growler size pours; 32oz averages just over $11 and 64oz $21. Disclaimer: All average prices were based off the posted price and number of available beers at the time of this review and subject to change.
You can also be a card-carrying member of the ‘Heroic VIP Club’ which kicked off March of 2017. For an annual $125 membership fee you get a variety of perks, those being:
- An actual membership card!
- 20oz pour for the 16oz price
- $1 off 10oz pours
- $3 Growler fills
- 20% Merchandise Discount
- Early access to new beer releases
- An annual member appreciation event
- Exclusive ‘Founding Member’ events
- Exclusive ‘Founding Member’ glass and T-Shirt
- Founding Member priority renewal.
So, my first question was… what is a ‘Founding Member’? The answer was simple… it is the first 100 members of their VIP Club, and the priority renewal perk these founders get is that their membership price will never go up more than their initial $125 purchase. If Heroic decides to raise the price next year to $150 the founders pay their original price while other ‘regular’ VIP members must pony up the extra cash. There are some founding member spots still left!! You might want to get there and get yours while they are still available.
Is it worth it? Well a T-shirt is normally $20 and the glass is $5, so that is $25 of the $125 price tag gone leaving a $100 balance. If you are a regular and drink at least four 20oz beers a week, those four extra ounces equal of free 16oz beer or $6…. And over a month that works out to be $24 saved. Over a year…. $288 dollars saved which means, minus the T-shirt and glass, you net $188 after the initial membership fee. This doesn’t even count the $3 savings on each growler fill or $1 off 10oz pours. So… if you are going to be here on a regular basis… then YES… it is worth it and you even make money with the savings. The second year… well… since you are not getting another T-shirt or glass (I think) you are still saving money.
Besides the savings of being a member of the club, members and non-VIP members alike get additional perks when they come to what I can only call… my local NERDVANA…. like theme based cosplay events, role play gaming nights, geek trivia nights… and road trips! This September they will be taking a bus to the Maryland Renaissance Festival for a full day of play! The owners are also veterans, which I appreciate being a veteran myself, and they use their brewery to help raise money for veteran groups.
Now… the downside. Yep… there must be a down side, and for me it is the location. Parking is very limited and a pain when they get very busy. Other local businesses here in this industrial park have no-parking signs and you must park where you can on the street or in what spaces are open in the industrial parks after 5PM. Why they are in this industrial park is understandable… they need the space to brew a lot of beer as they want to distribute to a variety of stores and restaurants. I just wish their tap room was elsewhere. The location is the main reason I do not come to ‘Nerdvana’ more often or join their VIP club, the club is just not worth if for me personally. However, when I do get to come in I enjoy the beer and atmosphere very much.
There you have it. My $0.02 cents when it comes to Heroic Aleworks. It is a brewery geekdom in progress that has good beer and good atmosphere. While I may not be a VIP member I do find them worth the drive time for me to come and visit on occasion and geek out with other nerds. Remember… nerds rule the world and if they were to have global domination meetings… it would be over a beer at Heroic Aleworks. Give them a shot!! I think you will enjoy your time here. You can stay up to date with the good folks here from their website and on social media.
- WEB: http://heroicaleworks.com
- Twitter: @HeroicAleworks
- Instagram: HeroicAleworks
- YouTube: Heroic Aleworks
- Facebook…. F@*! Facebook… their evil and I don’t do it so you’re on your own with that. 😊
I continue moving my reviews West from here with the next being Brew Republic Bierwerks. Please take a moment to subscribe to my blog for the latest posts and if you like what you read here please share via your social media. Feel free to also leave comments of send me an email.
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